PP4B4      One Unit
Dissertation

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

Requisites

Mutually exclusive courses:

This course cannot be taken with PP4V8 at any time on the same degree programme.

The aim of this course is to enable students to plan, design and conduct independent substantial research in an area of public policy.  Students will write a dissertation of no more than 10,000 words on a topic of their choice to be agreed with their supervisor.  The dissertation will carry out an evidence-based analysis of a concrete policy issue with the aim of deepening our understanding of the problem.  The main body of the dissertation will provide a critical review of any relevant academic literature, describe and justify the student's methodology, discuss major findings, and explain how these results advance our knowledge of the subject under investigation.  While students may wish to incorporate quantitative data in their dissertations, qualitative approaches are also acceptable.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

This course is delivered through lectures and workshops totalling a minimum of 6 hours in Autumn Term and 6 hours in Winter Term.

These sessions will provide academic and practical guidance on planning and writing of the student's dissertation and will offer opportunities to try out ideas and gather feedback. The student's supervisor will also provide advice and guidance throughout the dissertation-writing process.

• Inger Furseth, Euris Everett and Larry Everett, Doing Your Master's Dissertation: From Start to Finish (Sage Study Skills Series, 2013);
• John Gerring,  Social Science Methodology: A Unified Framework, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2023)
• Nick Huntington-Klein, The Effect: An Introduction to Research Design and Causality (Routledge, 2022)

Dissertation proposal (10%, 1500 words)

Dissertation (90%, 10000 words)

• A 1,500 word dissertation proposal submitted in Autumn Term will count for 10% of the overall dissertation mark.  The proposal will suggest a title for the dissertation, identify the student's research question, provide an abstract, and (briefly) discuss the rationale for the research and the feasibility of the project.  Students will also explain their research design and method(s), identify potential sources, and describe how their dissertation is likely to be structured.  Dissertation writers will receive feedback on their proposal, at which point they can no longer change their topic except with the explicit agreement of their supervisor.
• The full dissertation consisting of no more than 10,000 words will account for the remaining 90% of the overall mark and will be submitted early in Spring Term.